Sewing machine attachment



June l, 1954 w. suMEGI 2,679,813

SEWING MACHINE ATTACHMENT Filed April '7, 1951 INVENTOR. Mami/veaW50/v6@ Patented June 1, 1954 UNITED STATES PATENT YOFFICE 2,679,813SEWING MACHINE ATTACHMENT Lawrence W. Sumegi, Cleveland, OhioApplication April 7, 1951, Serial N o. 219,821

4 Claims.

This invention relates to a device for attachment to the bedplate of asewing machine for use in connection with a strip or tape of materialwhich is to be fed into contact with the edge of material which is to bebound by the tape and fed to the presser foot and stitching mechanism ofthe sewing machine.

In the use of a device of this character the tape material, either inspool form or otherwise, is supported or mounted at a convenient placeand the strip or tape material usually must be fed so as to turn anangle in order to be in position to be engaged by the material to bebound and subsequently fed to the presser foot and stitching mechanismof the sewing machine.

The present attachment, which may be adjustably attached to the bedplateof a sewing machine, operates upon strip material from a spool or othersource which is not shown in the drawing, guides the strip material andpreforms the strip material so as to fold it essentially along a medianline, providing a form over which the folded strip of material may passwith its open edges toward the outside or toward that position withrespect to the apparatus which will make it accessible for theintroduction of the edge of the material to be bound and, at the sametime, to support the strip material so that at the time of presentationof the edge of the material to be bound, a rm engagement between theedge of the material to be bound and the folded strip may be eiected andmaintained in that position as the combined folded strip and material isfed forward to the presser foot and stitcher of the machine.

Reference should be had to the accompanying drawings which form a partof the specication in which:

Fig. 1 is a top plan view showing the attachment and indicating more orless diagrammatically the stitcher device of a sewing machine;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view showing a portion of the attachment,particularly that part wherein the folded tape is introduced into itsassociated relation with the material, the edge of which is to be bound;

Fig. 3 is a section upon the line 3 3 of Fig. l;

Fig. 4 is a section along the line 4 4 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a section in the line 5 5 of Fig. l; and

Fig. 6 is a section upon the line 6 6 of Fig. 1.

The device comprises what might be termed a frame. This frame consistsof an arm I which provides an eye or essentially a round portion, suchas indicated at 2 in Fig. 1. The frame also has an arm 3 which extendsoutwardly from the eye portion 2 and to a certain extent parallel withthe arm I.

The arm I of the frame carries-a plate 4 which has a hollow portionindicated at 5 which is provided with an opening through which thereextends a set screw so that the relative position of the plate 4 and-thearm 5 may be adjusted.

The plate 4 is provided with an opening adapted to receive a screw 'i bywhich the plate 4' may be attached to the bedplate of the sewingmachine, and the plate 4 also has an arcuate slot 8 adapted to receive ascrew 9 which will be secured in an opening in the machine bedplate.Therefore, it will be apparent that the frame as a whole may be adjustedby virtue of manipulation of the screws 6 and 9 so as to position theframe properly with respect not only to receiving the strip of materialwhich is to be folded, but also to positioning the attachment so thatwhen the folded strip is brought into association with the edge of thematerial to be bound it will be in a straight line position with respectto the presser foot and stitching mechanism of the sewing machine.

This frame which has been described has an angular arm It) which extendstoward the forward part'of the attachment and carries a V- shaped troughmember l I, the function of which will be later described.

The source of the strip material I2 is not shown, but as before stated,the strip material or tape may be taken from a spool or other supportwhich may be conveniently arranged.

The arm 3 of the attachment has a guiding member I3 and also a guidingmember Id which are arranged in spaced relation. The guides each have arounded opening substantially of the curvature indicated by the sectionof the strip material i2 which is shown in the right hand portion ofFig. l of the drawing. The tape when passing through the member I3 isguided and partially formed into what might be called a rounded positionas indicated at the right-hand portion of Fig. l and then when itpassesthrough the guide I4 it has been essentially completely folded upon itsmedian line.

Supported upon the arm S is a bracket I5 which rigidly supports oneendof a curved bar or form I6 which may be more clearly seen in Fig. 2.This bar is curved so that it is essentially right angular in form. Thisbar is provided with a slot Il which extends entirely through the bar,this slot being for the reception of the edge of the material which isto be bound, which material is indicated at I8 in Fig. l. The upperportion of thebar formed by the slot Il, which upper portion isindicated at I9 is shortened,

while the under portion of the bar is extended as indicated at 20 andthis portion of the bar extends within the confines of an essentiallyV-shaped member Il, all of which is illustrated in Fig. 2.

The eye portion 2 of the support has mounted therein a stub shaft orspindle 22, this shaft being held in position by means of the nut 23.Rotatably mounted upon the stub shaft 22 is a wheel or rotatable member24, the edge surface of which has a re-entrant angle which is indicatedat 25 in the cross-sectional view of Fig. 3.

The wheel or rotatable member 24 is mounted upon stub shaft 22 and thediameter of the opening in the wheel is slightly greater than thediameter of the stub shaft 22, therefore when the wheel is assembledupon the stub shaft 22 there is a slight amount of play between theshaft and the member 24. It sometimes happens that there is an unevenspot or place upon the tape which is being supplied, often due to thefact that as a spool of tape is used up, the end of the tape is attachedto the leading end of a new spool of tape and so creates a slight humpor bulge in the tape and then it may happen that there is a spot orbulge due to unevenness in the weaving of the tape. In any event, whensuch a spot or bulge, in the process of its passing through the device,reaches the portion thereof where it would contact with the rotatablemember 2li, the fact that the rotatable member has a slight play willprevent any tendency of the tape to run 01T of the rotatable member.

The curved portion of split bar IG and wheel 212 are so relativelymounted that the bar extends at least in part between the side walls ofthe V-shaped portion 25.

llhe movement of the tape or strip may now be traced as it passes to andis acted upon by the attachment which has been described. The tape i2rst passes through the guide member i3 which gives it a preshape whichmay be described as rounded, or a preliminary step toward the completefolding of the strip. The strip then passes through the guide I4 and inpassing through this guide, the folding of the strip along its medianline is essentially completed. The strip then passes into contact withwhat may be described as the rear surface of the guide i and will ofcourse pass into the groove 25 of the wheel 24, this beiing illustratedmore particularly in Fig. 3 so that the tape as it moves forward is incontact with the inner portion of the guide l5 and the V-shaped portionof the wheel 24.

At this stage, the edge of the material which is to be bound has beenintroduced through the slot formed in the member I6 and the edge of thematerial will be guided into contact with the fold of the tape and willmove forward with the tape as the material moves toward the presser footand stitching mechanism of the machine.

In order to properly guide the tape and properly retain it against theedge of the material to be bound after it has passed from beyond contactwith the guide I6 and the V-shape surface oi the wheel 24, the member Ilis provided, and in order to guide the tape properly into position inthis member Il the bar l5 is provided with the extension 20 to whichreference has already been made. This member il may be described asprovided with walls which form a V-shape so that in Contact with thematerial to be bound the edges of the tape are denitely retained infolded condition and in contact with the material to which the tape isto be attached as shown in Fig. 5. The material with its bindingstitched thereon is shown in Fig. 6.

The attachment as thus described is very effective in preforming thestrip or tape, guiding it into position to engage with the edge of thematerial to be bound, providing an arrangement involving a rotating partwhich bears against the tape so that there is no tugging or distortionof the tape, but permitting it to freely move around the form which hasprovision for receiving the edge of the material which is to be boundand finally preserving that relationship so that the material with thebinding tape placed thereon is deiinitely positioned properly, to beoperated upon by the presser foot and stitching mechanism of the sewingmachine.

1t will be apparent that modifications of the mechanism which are hereinshown for equvalent purpose and function may be made without departingfrom the spirit of the invention and within the terms of the claimsannexed hereto.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. A binding attachment for use with sewing machines comprisingsupporting means adapted to be attached to a portion of the sewingmachine, rounded guide members carried by said support and adapted toreceive strip tape from a source of supply, a bar mounted upon saidsupporting means, one end of said bar being adjacent to the guidingmeans and adapted to receive the partially folded tape coming from theguiding means, the said bar having an arcuate portion therein, a wheelmember mounted upon said supporting means and arcuately correspondingwith the arcuate portion in the bar, whereby the tape passing over thebar passes between the wheel and the bar, said bar being provided with atransverse slot adapted to receive the edge of the material to be boundthereby to introduce the same into contact with the folded tape.

2. A sewing machine attachment for use with sewing machines, comprisingsupporting means adapted to be attached to a portion of the sewingmachine, guiding means having rounded openings which are carried by saidsupport and adapted to receive strip tape from a source of supply, anelongated guiding form mounted upon the said support one end of which islocated adjacent the beforementioned guides, said guiding form having anarcuate shaped portion, a rotatable member mounted upon said supportingmeans the peripheral portion of which is grooved and is mounted upon thesupporting means to cooperate with the arcuate portion of the guidingform, the tape received upon the said guiding form being caused to passbetween the guiding form and the said rotatable member, the said guidingform being provided with a transversely extending slot which is adaptedto receive the edge of the material to be bound and to introduce itwithin the folded tape passing between the said form and the rotatablemember.

3. A binding attachment for use with sewing machines comprising asupporting means adapted to be attached to a portion of the sewingmachine, guide members mounted upon said supporting means adapted toreceive and incipiently fold tape received from an extraneous source ofsupply, an elongated guiding form mounted upon the said supporting meansand having one end thereof adjacent the aforesaid guiding means wherebythe tape passing from the guiding means passes over the said form, the

said guiding form having a bent arcuate shaped portion, a rotatablepulley-like member mounted upon the said supporting means which memberhas a grooved periphery which cooperates with the arcuate portion of theguiding form, so that the tape passing along the said guiding formpasses between said pulley-like member and the guiding form, the saidguiding form being provided with a transverse slot at the arcuateportion of said guiding form, the said slot being adapted to receive theedge of the material to which the binding is to` be attached.

4. A binding attachment for use with sewing machines comprising asupporting means adapted to be attached to a portion of the sewingmachine, guide members mounted upon said supporting means adapted toreceive and incipiently fold tape received from an extraneous source ofsupply, an elongated guiding form mounted upon the said supporting meansand having one end thereof adjacent the aforesaid guiding means wherebythe tape passing from the guiding means passes over the said form, thesaid guiding form having a bent arcuate shaped portion, a rotatablepulley-like member mounted upon the said supporting means which memberhas a grooved periphery which cooperates with the arcuate portion of theguiding form, so that the tape passing along the said guiding formpasses between said pulley-like member and the guiding form, the saidguiding form being provided with a transverse slot at the arcuateportion of said guiding form, the said slot being adapted to receive theedge of the material to which the binding is to be attached and asubsidiary guiding member mounted upon the said support adjacent the endof the guiding form,

adapted to receive terial to maintain the combined tape and mathe samein folded position and guide its approach to the stitching mechanism ofthe sewing machine.

References Cited in the le of this patent Number Number UNITED STATESPATENTS

